Have You Tapped Into Your Leadership and Co-Leadership Potential?

On last week's episode of the "Trust Your Voice" podcast, I introduced you to Nathalie Sabourin: author, university speaker, leadership coach, co-founder of The Co-Leadership Group inc. and President of Groupe Sabourin Consultation. 

Throughout her career in leadership coaching, Nathalie has assisted Business Leaders, Executive Teams, and Entrepreneurs in various industries to become more united and work more effectively together. 

She is a firm believer in the power of 'Co-Leadership' to drive results - a philosophy that encourages forming a team that identifies and compliments each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Our conversation was truly inspiring: 

Rediscovering your strengths.

It is much more valuable to focus on your strengths than your weaknesses as a leader. Instead of becoming overly concerned with your faults, this kind of mindset helps you better understand what sort of value you can bring to a team.

Nathalie believes leadership is about making a positive impact on situations and people, and that “starting with strengths in everything” is the key. For example, one of my top strengths is “Individualization” – which means I am able to identify the potential in others. Knowing this helps me focus on being a spark that ignites that potential!

“We have this tendency of seeing the negative side,” Nathalie elaborated. “Take the time to really rediscover your strengths, because when you know your strengths…you can identify who you can partner with and work in Co-Leadership with the synergy of your strengths.”

During our conversation, Nathalie spoke a lot about Co-leadership, or the synergy of strengths. What exactly is it, and why does it matter?

Recognizing the strengths on your team.

When a leader recognizes and works harmoniously with the diverse strengths of each member of their team, they are able to shore up each other’s weaknesses and discover more creative solutions to problems. Co-leadership is based upon this type of synergy or combined action.

"Individual leadership is not sufficient in today's complex environment,” Nathalie stated, expounding on the motive behind her coaching philosophy. “We need more innovation and…innovation will be ignited with the synergy of strengths, what we call Co-Leadership.” 

To discover their team's strengths, a leader must make an intentional effort. External resources may be helpful!

Take it to the next level.

Clifton’s Strengthfinder test is one such resource, which many team leaders have utilized to better understand themselves and their team members.

Nathalie is passionate about it’s abilities to help teams be more united and achieve synergy. “Strengthsfinder is a great tool to kickstart these conversations for more creativity. The questionnaire gives a vocabulary to communicate effectively…what you bring and what you need.”

She also encourages others to explore finding a coach, as it gives you time to invest in yourself and create your own roadmap to success. “In this busy world, it’s not just about doing, it’s about learning about what we do and focusing to be at full potential.”

Release your potential!

Problem-solving is at the center of all good leadership, so giving each team member a vocabulary to describe their unique contribution is invaluable! CliftonStrengths is a questionnaire that I myself have used, and it has helped me understand myself, trust my voice and affect others positively. I highly recommend it!

Interested in learning more? I speak about CliftonStrengths along with other useful tools in my book “Trust Your Voice: A Roadmap to Focus and Influence”, and in my weekly “Trust Your Voice” podcast.

Download the first chapter of my book for free and subscribe to the podcast to receive more tips, inspiration and insights on how to reach your goals!